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BOX OFFICE Belgium

A serious drop in admissions to Belgian theatres in 2016

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- Admissions to Belgian theatres fell by 8.22% in 2016, with almost 1.5 million fewer viewers

A serious drop in admissions to Belgian theatres in 2016
De Premier by Erik Van Looy

After a bright spell in 2015 with 21 million admissions (an increase of 3.8%), the Belgian film exhibition sector suffered a slump in 2016, as did several other sectors. The number of admissions to cinemas fell by 8.22% - and turnover "alone" by 5.83% (€148.2 million) -, at an estimated 19,400,000 give or take. The second and third quarters were particularly troublesome. This was a direct result, of course, of the attacks in March, which slowed down the Belgian economy significantly, with a big impact on the tourism and entertainment sectors in particular, but of the various sporting competitions held over the summer too (the UEFA European Championship, the Olympics).

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2016 did confirm one trend, that of the strong prevalence of family films at the box office. Of the six highest-grossing films, five were family or children’s films, and all six were American: Finding Dory, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(a British co-production), The Secret Life of Pets, Zootopia, The Revenant, and The Jungle Book. Also worth mentioning is that for the first time in a long time, none of these films were prequels or sequels, although Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is nonetheless a spin-off from the Harry Potter universe.

So how did Belgian films do in 2016? The three highest-grossing Belgian films of the year were De Premier [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(390,355 admissions), Safety First [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(228,421 admissions) and Buurtpolitie [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(152,379 admissions). De Premier pulled in almost 400,000 viewers in just two months. The film is still in theatres and could follow the same trajectory as successful films from last year, such as FC De Kampioenen 2: Jubilee General [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
et Safety First (released in 2015, it racked up almost 300,000 admissions in just two weeks), which pulled in over 600,000 viewers. Flemish Belgian films set a new record in 2015 with over 150,000 (+7%) extra viewers than the previous high set in 2010. 2016 will fall far short of such figures. Whilst the number of Belgian films being made was higher (34 as opposed to 25), ticket sales from Belgian films dropped slightly down to 9.6% (a fall of 10.6%). On the French-speaking side of things, the numbers aren’t encouraging either. Despite being of inarguably high quality, films such as The First, The Last [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bouli Lanners
film profile
]
by Bouli Lanners, After Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile
]
by Joachim Lafosse, and The Unknown Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile
]
by the Dardenne brothers didn’t do as well at the box office as the previous films of the same filmmakers, despite being selected for prestigious festivals and receiving good reviews.

Nonetheless, the sector is still moving forward. The number of cinemas rose in 2016 to 521 (an extra 23 cinemas), with new theatres popping up in Brussels and the provinces of Haiaut and Liège. Exhibitors and distributors are still optimistic for the future, and are pleased to see a promising line-up for 2017, which seems to have got off to a good start. 

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(Translated from French)

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